


I'll Walk With You My Dear

by VeryFckingAmusing



Series: Roma University [5]
Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Moving In Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-09
Updated: 2013-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-28 21:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/997052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryFckingAmusing/pseuds/VeryFckingAmusing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duro makes the big move, Auctus freaks out and Castus gets revenge for the moral ass-kicking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Walk With You My Dear

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Little Talks - Of Monster and Men

The process of moving one 20-something unemployed manchild across states sounded a lot simpler in theory. In practise, Duro didn't have 'just a couple boxes' as he'd promised, and instead had hoarded two extra car loads of crap over his years living with his parents. So they called in reinforcements, which came in the form of Duro's brother.

"Told you you'd fuckin' need me," Agron proclaimed as he pulled in to the driveway.

"Yes, your foresight astounds me, brother." Duro rolled his eyes but he was grinning broadly.

"Alright, let's load up and fuck off. Nasir's already panicking, he's sent me three seperate texts telling me to drive carefully."

Duro chuckled appreciatively but nudged Auctus's shoulder and pointed out a deep scratch in the front bumper.

"It's his boyfriend's car he's borrowing," he whispered, "Can you blame him?"

Auctus shuffled uncomfortably. Between Duro's half-dead Commodore and Agron's apparent terrible driving skills, he was beginning to think they weren't even road worthy combined. He was suddenly ecstatic that he was driving the truck back to Queensland.

Thankfully, they made it back in one piece with just one more rest stop than anticipated. Finding two parking spots and anywhere large enough to park a moving truck outside Duro's new apartment building was a headache, and eventually they had to work out an odd running-unload situation to avoid getting a ticket. By the time they'd finally gotten the boxes up the elevator and into Duro's new home, Auctus was just about ready to break up with him.

"I wonder if there's some way to disown him as my brother?" Agron muttered darkly when Auctus voiced his thoughts.

The tentative 'polite for Duro's sake' relationship between them had remarkably strengthened in the face of Duro's never-broken spirit. True to form, Duro was ecstatic.

"Told you you'd love him." he said, smacking Auctus's ass as they passed in the hallway.

"Fucking... get more miserable," he ordered, "We've been at it for hours."

"No-can-do, mon frère," Duro shook his head, "It's a new start. No parents, no rules! I'm eating ice cream for dinner tonight!"

"Frère means brother, you dork."

"What-EVER!"

Agron couldn't have gotten out of there sooner, darting out the door the minute the last box was dropped.

"Take me with you..." Auctus moaned to the closed door from where he sat on the carpet, surrounded by more work to do.

Duro scoffed and kissed him on the head as he passed.

"You're the perfect pair, you two," he commented, "At least you know you've got a back up..."

"He certainly doesn't own a replica Zelda shield, I'm sure," Auctus retorted, "Be still my beating heart."

He pulled the offending item out of the box in front of him and held it up gingerly.

"Seriously, what are you even gonna do with this?"

Duro shrugged and snatched it away, sitting it up in the windowsill, "I dunno, looks cool."

"Well, there goes that $300 view..." Auctus rolled his eyes.

"Less talking, more unpacking," Duro ordered, "You're got time to chat, you've got time to unpa...ck?"

"Weak."

  
-

  
Unpacking went a lot smoother when Auctus realised Duro didn't give a shit where his stuff went, as long as it was out of the boxes. His initial attempts at organisation were met with Hurricane Duro, whirling through the room hollering 'I forgot I owned this!" and "FUCK, I was meant to give this back..." so eventually he just settled for creating half-hearted stacks of crap against the walls.

"It'll all get put away eventually," Duro explained, "When I use it, I'll find a place for it."

Auctus would have argued if it wasn't eleven thirty at night.

"I'll take these and dump them when I go to drop the truck off tomorrow," he said instead, stacking the empty cardboard boxes inside each other, "Kill two birds with one stone."

"Oh."

Auctus looked up at Duro, sat on the floor wringing his hands, and frowned.

"What?"

Duro shrugged, "I was thinking we'd keep them."

"Because...?"

"Well, just because we might need them soon." Duro said quietly.

Auctus looked from the boxes to his boyfriend and sighed.

"Use your words, Duro."

Duro huffed exasperatedly, "I thought it was pretty obvious. I'm not saying _now,_ so don't freak out, but... I dunno... I thought maybe you could use them."

"To... move?" Auctus asked and Duro nodded, biting his lip anxiously.

"In here? With you?" he blanched.

"Not _now_!" Duro scooted closer on the carpet of that their knees were touching, "I wanna live on my own for a while... Like a month."

"A _month_?" Auctus felt himself pale.

"Or however long you need, there's no rush!"

He shook his head slowly, mouth dry. Duro's eyes were impossibly wide and he looked terrified but Auctus couldn't get his brain to focus.

"I, uh... I have to go." he mumbled, pulling away when Duro's hand shot out to grab his.

"Wait, Auctus, this is stupid, don't leave," Duro pleaded, but Auctus was already at the door, "Let's talk about this!"

"I'll... call you." he offered, not looking back.

  
-

  
"And you _left_?" Castus groaned, " _Auctus_..."

"I know!" he snapped, "I'm an asshole."

"Yeah you are!"

"I know!"

Castus let out a breath and leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.

"Did you call?"

Auctus cringed, "Not yet. I went back and took the moving truck in the morning but I didn't stop by, either."

"Auctus, call him." Castus ordered firmly, "Call him and apologise before he has time to realise how much better he could do."

The very thought made Auctus's chest clench but he stood firm.

"But it's not really my fault," he protested, ignoring Castus's furious splutter, "No, seriously. We agreed we'd take things slow! Moving in together isn't slow!"

"You've been together for five months, Auctus," Castus snapped, "If getting serious was your issue, you should have broken it off three months ago."

"What do you mean, 'if it was my issue', like I'm faking it?" Auctus's fists clenched, "Fuck you! Why would I even...?"

"No, you dipshit," Castus hissed, "I mean..."

He took a deep breath and glared at Auctus.

"Look, I'm going to apologise in advance because nobody likes to hear shit like this," he warned, "But you've been the voice of reason for me in the past and I feel obliged to do the same."

Before Auctus could reply, he held up a hand to shut him up.

"I really don't think committing is what made you freak out. I think..." he sighed, "You were living with Barca when he..."

"Cheated?" Auctus snapped, "Yes, thank you, I feel much better now you've brought that up."

"I already said you wouldn't like hearing it! But look, that's the point, things got bad when you moved in together and I think what scares you about moving in with Duro is that you think you'll lose him."

Auctus shook his head and fumed silently but there was no denying Castus's logic.

"You know I'm right."

"Stay out of my head."

Castus chuckled quietly, "Sorry. But seriously, dude... I'm not going to tell you to do it, you need to do what you think is right. There's no telling what will happen if you move in with him."

Auctus nodded, "Yeah... I'd like to think Duro would never do what Barca did, but I also thought _he_ was a saint, y'know?"

"Yeah I know, I didn't expect it from him either..." Castus nodded thoughtfully, "I guess you just have to decide if he's worth it."

Auctus let his head fall to the table and groaned, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Yes, but you see, I thought _Barca_ was worth it... Why is it so complicated?"

"That's half the fun?" Castus offered weakly then shrugged, "I dunno man. I feel for you, I really do. It's shit getting your heart stomped on. But you know you'll never know for sure, right? There'll always be that possibility that it might happen again, no matter who you choose. Personally, I think you chose right. You're different with him."

"Better?"

Castus cringed and laughed, "I'm not sure I'd call it that. Younger, stupider, maybe..."

Auctus laughed along and shook his head fondly, "He brings out the kid in me. Is that weird?"

"No comment."

 

-

  
When Auctus arrived at Duro's door, he'd expected it to be a little harder to get in. He was pleasantly surprised, though, when the door flung open on his first knock and he received an armful of Duro. They made it inside and Auctus closed the door behind him before wrapping his arms around Duro's shoulders.

"I missed you," his voice was muffled in Auctus's shoulder.

"It was only three days."

Duro pulled away and glared. Auctus looked away uncomfortably and was shocked to find Duro's apartment in near-pristine condition.

"You... cleaned?" he asked.

"I had some help," Duro shrugged, "But yeah. Got tired of the mess. Being a grown up is doing weird things to me."

"Mm, responsibility," Auctus faked a shudder.

Duro chuckled quietly but his face grew serious, "So, are we gonna talk about it?"

Auctus sighed.

"Yeah. Look, I'm really sorry I freaked out. I shouldn't have left you in the dark."

Duro nodded, "Yeah, that sucked."

"I talked to Castus,"

"Really?" Duro raised his eyebrows.

Auctus scoffed, "Yeah. I may not love the guy but he can really kick my arse when I need it. He told me I was freaking out because I was afraid you'd leave me. Wise ass."

"Like with Barca?"

"Yep."

Duro sighed, "I'm getting a little sick of being punished for what he did."

Auctus blinked.

"Sorry. That was harsh. It just feels like you're projecting everything that went wrong with that relationship onto this one."

Again, Auctus had nothing to say.

"And I'm happy with what we have, Auctus, but I don't think I can be your five month long rebound anymore."

"I..."

"Bet Castus didn't say that." Duro half-grinned despite himself.

"No..." Auctus swallowed heavily, "He didn't... Fuck."

Duro shrugged, "I needed to say it. I've had a lot of time to think."

"You're not my rebound, Duro." Auctus said quickly, "I mean, maybe you were at first, because we said we weren't gonna be serious, but you've become so much more."

He stepped forward and grabbed Duro's forearm with a little more urgency than was neccessary, but Duro's break-up hint had switched on an alarm inside him.

"I love you."

Duro met his eyes for a long silence.

"Don't... just say that," Duro warned quietly, "If you think that's what I want to hear."

"I'm not. I mean it. I'm in love with you and that's why I freaked out." he nodded, more to himself than anything, "And I'm never going to make you suffer for Barca's mistakes again because caution is just going to push you away-"

Duro cut him off with his lips on his. Auctus groaned and released his forearm, letting his arms wrap tightly around his waist.

"I love you too," Duro whispered.

"Really?"

Duro rolled his eyes, "Yes, you idiot. I was gonna say it if you agreed to move in."

Auctus sighed, "I'm sorry we didn't spend your first night here together. I'm sorry you had to spend your first days in Queensland alone. I'm a fucking..."

Duro cut him off as he was thinking with another kiss.

"You're alright, don't be too hard on yourself."

"I want to move in with you." Auctus said, "I'm not afraid anymore."

Duro grinned and his arms moved from Auctus's shoulders to hang loosely around his neck.

"Good," he pressed a kiss to his cheek, "But give me that month. I get the feeling you won't approve of my bachelor eating habits any more than my parents did. Gotta get it out of my system first."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for the feedback, it makes me so happy that you guys are enjoying these! If you feel so inclined, I'd love it if you'd let me know what characters you want to read more about in the future. Obviously, I'll keep involving everyone in the different parts, but it'd be good to know what you guys like. Even leave prompts if you want. I can't guarantee I'll do them all (I won't if they clash with planned storylines or if they're too similar to ones I've already got planned) but I'll bloody well try! Anyway, thanks again for the support, leave me some comments telling me what you wanna see, and have a great day! <3


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